For the last year or so, I've been casually watching Texas hold-em on ESPN and other assorted cable channels. My friend Andrew is a great poker player, but I always refrained from learning because I have a somewhat competitive personality, and the last thing I need is to get hooked on something where you can loose money. Nevertheless, my older cousins have been playing poker with their friends, and they sucked me into a few hands over my recent vacation. Needless to say, I pulled $20 out of them over three days. It's not a ton of money, but at least I now know what the flop, turn, and river is, what pocket aces are, and what off-suit means. Moreover, I had fun playing.

Now the big question is, will I go over the deep end and buy a ton of books on poker? Probably not. It's getting that "every-guy-in-America-is-playing-it" popularity that I can't stand. Golf went through it in the late 90s, and I hated what it did to local courses: people had no idea about the subtle rules and ettiquette that one usually followed on the links, and it got really annoying. Andrew blogged about a similar fate that poker is going through right now (and I can't find the link - must've been on an old version of his site), and I want to avoid that. I may pick up a book to learn more of the details and I'll probably buy a bunch of chips so I can play friendly games with my friends, but that's it.